Article

PURPOSE: To examine the effect and feasibility of a 12-week programme of
progressive resistance exercise on a group of nonagenarian (>/=90 years)
community-dwelling women. METHOD: An A-B single-subject experimental design was
applied. Visual analyses were used for estimating the effect of the intervention.
Outcome measurements were: Timed Up and Go (TUG), comfortable walking speed and
30-s chair stands. The programme comprised four exercises, following the
principle of overload, aiming at improving strength in the main muscle groups.
Feasibility of the progressive resistance intervention was assessed by recording
the recruitment of participants, adherence to the intervention and adverse
events. RESULTS: Twenty-seven women were invited; eight women aged 90 and above
agreed to participate and six completed the study. They suffered from one to 10
chronic medical conditions. All improved their performance in the TUG test. Five
of the six participants achieved a higher walking speed (11-59%) and four of them
improved on the 30-s chair-stand test with five to 10 stands. No major adverse
events were reported. CONCLUSION: Progressive resistance training was a safe and
efficient method to enhance mobility and increase lower body strength in this
heterogeneous group of nonagenarian community-dwelling women. IMPLICATIONS FOR
REHABILITATION: Progressive resistance (PRT) training was found to be a safe and
efficient method to enhance mobility and increase lower body strength in a group
of community-dwelling women 90+. Participants with the poorest initial functional
performance had great benefits, and the improvements appeared already after a few
weeks of PRT. PRT might be useful in the rehabilitation field and could be
implemented in facilities such as day care and senior centres frequented by very
old persons with mobility limitations.

Langue : ANGLAIS